Jabari Brown picks Oregon over UW and Arizona State

Oakland shooting guard Jabari Brown surprised everyone and verbally committed to Oregon when it was believed Washington and Arizona State were the front-runners.
“Next year, I’ll play be playing at Oregon University for Coach (Dana) Atlman and his staff,” Brown announced in an interview with ESPNU.
The Ducks have received commitments from Jackson High guard Brett Kingma, Portland center/forward Austin Kuemper and Illinois guard Bruce Barron.
Brown, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard is five-star recruit and ranked the No. 5 at his position nationally by Rivals.com and Scout.com. He’s the biggest prize for Altman who could use a bit of good news these days. Oregon lost four players who chose to transfer, one player who left early to play professional overseas and another player who is ineligible for the upcoming season.
“Oregon landed me because they were the best fit for me,” Brown told ESPNU. “Coach Altman and his staff did a great job of recruiting me. Making me feel at home, feeling comfortable. My visit was great and they told me everything that I think I needed to hear out of a school.”
In addition to Washington and Arizona State, Brown was considering Connecticut and Georgia Tech. The Huskies were considered by recruiting analysts to be the early favorites and reportedly Brown favored the Sun Devils later on.
He visited Oregon last weekend and that trip appears to have been enough for him to make his decision. Even though the Ducks are picked to finish last in Pac-10 conference this season, Brown believes the team is on the rise.
“I think there’s a great opportunity,” he said. “Phil Knight does a great job of helping and building new facilities like Matthew Knight Arena and the practice facility for the players to come in and play and I’m blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of this.”
When asked if Knight, the Nike CEO played a role in his decision, Brown said: “It was definitely a factor. I love Nike. I’ve always worn Nike. But I think ultimately it was the coaching staff because I would never choose a school because of the shoes. I have to really feel comfortable there and that’s how Coach Altman made me feel.”